The more I study Science, the more I realize that I am a where I belong simply because I, too, love to name everything. When any molecule is changed in a physical, chemical, or biological way it gets a new name. For example, during the Krebs cycle (aka the citric acid cycle, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or the Szent-Györgyi-Krebs cycle) isocitric acid (isocitrate), once it is modified by an enzyme (isocitrate dehydrogenase) and it releases two hydrogen atoms (that turn NAD+ into NADH and a free hydrogen atom) and a carbon (which is released in the form of carbon dioxide) it is now called alpha ketoglutaric acid. That is just one step in the at least 26 step process by which we turn simple sugar (glucose) into energy that is usable by our cells (ATP). Every step of this process involves at least two new names per step. This is just one tiny little metabolic process that keeps us alive. Is it any wonder why I have chosen to study Gymnosperms (conifers) as a profession? There are only 700-900 living gymnosperms in the world today. That is a number I feel I can manage.

Have I fried your brain yet? Okay then. On to something less demanding. As you’ve probably already noticed, there is a schwanky new subscription box on the right site of the page. This is because Furious Jessy kept bugging me about the other subscribe box being hideous and kept “helping me” by sending me detailed instructions on how to change it. So, I finally put my big boy shorts on and changed it. There was copying and pasting of whole strings of strange letter and number combinations involved, that was very confusing to me, but it seems to be working. If you are one of the four people who had subscribed already, I went ahead and resubscribed you, so check your email. If you have not subscribed, feel free to do so. Anyway, I want to say thanks to F.J. for continuing to pester me about making the box less hideous. Be sure to thank her as well.

Moving on. This morning, in one hour thirteen minutes to be exact, I am going to have breakfast with Teacher Sis. Dinner plans fell through yesterday due to my prolonged study session for microbiology and the fact that I had Guess Who? waiting on me at the house. But, I’ll get to that in a minute. First, breakfast. I fucking lo-o-o-o-o-o-ve breakfast!

Anyway, Guess Who? So, during our romantic St. Valentine’s day Battleship championship, Pancake Land and I discussed other games that we enjoy playing and we realized that both of us share a passion for Guess Who? Do you remember Guess Who? Here:

So, as a “Thank you for not leaving me while I was away” gift for Pancake Land, I bought us a copy. It is a new version of the game which is definitely not what we are used to. There are serious pros and cons to the new version. One good thing about the new version is that there are interchangeable cards with different people and creatures on them. The bad news it that you get to select your character, rather than randomly drawing one from a stack of cards. And, the most disappointing thing about the new version, the little doors now closed to the side rather than toward the player, thus robbing you of the incredibly satisfying “clack” sound as you eliminate possibilities. Nevertheless, we try to be optimistic most of the time, so we looked on the bright side and realized that we could easily scan the cards into Photoshop and make our own cards with our friends, family, and even pets on them. Think of that. Eazy or Stini (sp?) or Leopold as a possibility. Yeah. Awesome. That was all Pancake Land’s idea. We even came up with an “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral” version with just random images of stuff on it. Maybe a science one. Hmm…

“Are you a prokaryote?”

“No. Are you a halogen?”

The possibilities are endless. If you have any ideas for a version, email them to me.

Well, I’ve rambled on enough. I’ve got to go get ready for breakfast and think about what I’m going to make for this food gig for G-Man this afternoon. Have a wonderful Sunday. More soon. ~SC